All peroxide cured power cables retain some of the decomposition by-products within their structure which can affect cable performance. Therefore, these by-products must be removed by a process known as degassing. Elevating the treatment temperature can reduce the degassing times. Temperatures range between 50° C. and 80° C., more preferably between 60° C. and 70° C. However, when degassing at these elevated temperatures, it is of utmost importance to take caution not to damage the cable core. The thermal expansion and softening of the materials from which the cable is constructed is known to damage the core causing “flats” and deforming the outer semiconductive shield layer. The latter is made of flexible compounds comprising conductive fillers to impart electrical conductivity for cable shielding. This damage can lead to failures during routine testing and thus the temperature needs to be decreased as the cable weight increases. The present invention uses a higher melting point olefin block copolymer for the semiconductive layer(s) to increase the deformation resistance at elevated temperatures, which in turn enables higher temperature degassing.